the reason i hold on (i need this hole gone)
by ohcaptain4
Summary: The war itself dragged on. The end of it... (Alternate ending)(Major Character Death)


It ended fairly quickly.

Orochimaru had been defeated by Sasuke, Kabuto falling prey to the avenger not too long after. Team Hebi (but not Sasuke, never Sasuke) had been taken as prisoners of war by Konoha. By Suna, truthfully, but, due to circumstances, they came to be held within Konoha.

Naruto Uzumaki and Kakashi Hatake had disappeared on the battlefield fighting Madara, Zetsu, and Kaguya in an epic clash of power. Their names had been carved into the memorial stone, Naruto's face never making it to be etched into the mountain like he had always dreamed.

Sakura had taken the title of Nanadaime Hokage, after the passing of Rokudaime Hokage Kakashi. It filled her with guilt, with anger, but mostly, it crushed her insides with sadness.

Shikamaru had taken up the position of Hokage's advisor, and he watched the once bright medic start to wither under the burden of power. Watched as she sent their comrades out to die in this winnerless bloodshed.

The Uchiha had instigated the Fourth shinobi war, had taken the Sandaime Hokage's second chance and trashed it. Trashed almost every village. From the updates Shikamaru had just given her, it seemed they were the only village still standing.

Sasuke probably thought he was so cool, wanting to save the best for last in some over dramatic battle royale. She wondered if he knew there was no point, there would be no prize at the end of all of this. She wondered if he'd be satisfied with all he had done, if he would feel anything other than regret and hollow victory.

Kumo and Iwa had merged together, Suna had flooded Konoha with refugees. Kiri had collapsed into itself, no updates had been heard from them for months. The war was just about lost to the Uchiha scion.

She wouldn't give up without a fight.

Sakura stood, Hokage robes being pulled off for her to start putting on her red vest. Shikamaru watched her wrap her thighs from midway up in medical chakra saving bandages, before pulling on her black shorts. She didn't bother with her medic apron, instead pulling on a belt lined with scrolls and vials and pills. Anything to make the fight end. To protect the village Naruto had held so dear, filled with war torn families and homesick civilians.

Sasuke Uchiha was making his way towards Konoha, her update had read. He was leaving a path of destruction to show what he would be doing in Konoha. To get his ultimate revenge.

Sakura grabbed all the kunai, and shuriken, and ninja wire she could, trying to arm herself to the teeth. She checked her chakra levels and found them high, her green Strength of a Hundred Seals filled as well, and her yang release ready to go.

By all physical means, she was ready. Her medical and physical prowess far surpassing Tsunade by now, she could heal faster than anyone could dream, all physical ailments nothing to her. Her punches were hard and controlled, and she was fast.

It was the way her hands shook that worried Shikamaru, as he watched her get ready. His half-lidded eyes were following the tremors warily.

Shikamaru winced. Her whole frame was shaking, honestly. He didn't want to doubt his Hokage, she put on a brave face, but she was scared. She was terrified.

Her finger tips jerkily pulled on her elbow protectors, and then her gloves. She flexed her unsteady hands to better fit in the worn material before she nodded and clenched her fist so hard that the shaking stopped.

She looked to Shikamaru while she pulled her hair out of her face, to get her full visual scope. It went into a ponytail, short and efficient and out of the way. Next she tied her hitai-ate onto the top of her head like a headband. She was still as she looked him over, hands still touching her hitai-ate's tied knot.

"This should be Naruto." She said evenly, breaking the heavy silence.

"Naruto is dead." Shikamaru grumbled, candid with his Hokage. He dug in his pocket for his smokes, feeling his fingers twitch with nerves.

"No body was found." She whispered, turning her eyes towards the Hokage mountain, where half of her face was constructed. Under construction, currently.

There was a knowing silence between them.

It didn't last long.

"Make him proud." Shikamaru lit a cigarette, inhaling and blowing the smoke out in a sigh.

Sakura smiled at him, green eyes flicking to him. There was no love, no amusement, in that smile. It was grief, and nostalgia, and strong. Reassuring, like when his dad, or Asuma, would ruffle his hair and tell him it was all gonna be okay.

And it was gone all too soon.

"I'll meet him at the gate. If he escapes me, make sure he doesn't set a step inside this village. That's an order." And with that, her heels clicked as she walked out the door, and down the hall.

Villagers watched as their Hokage walked towards her death. They may not have known what was going on, but they could see their Hokage was battle ready.

All of them remained respectfully silent. They bowed, their thank you as loud as if they had shouted it and Sakura could feel her shoulder's tense with resolve.

Fear puddled in her belly, but she just raised her chin a bit more and regally made her way towards Konoha's gates.

Her steps faltered as a child tottered up to her, holding up a tattered doll. Big blue eyes shone shyly from the girl, and she forgot how to breathe for a second.

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks, and her vision blurred, and she couldn't breathe, and she fell to her knees in front of this tiny little girl. The future of her village. The victim of a war torn world.

But the girl just gently took Sakura's limp hands, opening them to accept the doll, and hold it close to her chest while the Hokage struggled to hold herself together. She let her grip tighten on the rag doll and let her eyes meet the blue eyes in front of her.

"Good luck, Hokage-sama." The little girl whispered.

Sakura smiled at her, eyes misty. "Thank you," she murmured as she seemingly pulled herself together. She brushed red hair out of the girls face, gentle and kind, offering one last grateful smile before looking beyond the girl, to the gates.

Sakura stood up, letting her hands drop to her sides, the doll clutched tightly in her right hand. Fear of losing her last teammate made her feel sick, fear of failure only making it worse.

Fear of all of her loss, her growth and struggles, all of it, being in vain, over powered her with every stilted step forward she took. She soldiered on, despite the fear of death hanging over her. She ignored the thoughts in her head telling her this was a funeral march.

The gates opened a bit as she approached, enough for her to get out of. She looked at the small opening and withheld the shiver that wanted to rack her body.

Sakura blinked and stopped walking at what else greeted her, once she was close enough.

Shinobi, Suna, Konoha, Kumo and Iwa alike, all bowed to her, the respect evident. It was different than the civilian bows, these filled her with a need to win. To show them they were not wrong to put their faith in her.

No words were said as she smiled wanly, and her spine straightened a bit. She held her head high as she continued out the gate and signaled for them to close it behind her.

It did so, with a final thunk.

She could see a shadow approaching in the distance. Her fingers flexed, her right hand still clutching the dirty doll. Her battle would not be on the doorstep of her Village.

And so, she started towards him.

Sasuke blinked as he saw his pink haired ex-teammate approach. She looked different, though, he was sure the same could be said about himself and many others.

It wasn't Naruto, like he had expected. Must be sending her to do his dirty work, probably acting as Hokage during war times. He scoffed, already seeing how disposable she was in the eyes of her beloved village, and in his own eyes.

First, he'd crush this weak idiot of a shinobi, and then he'd move onto the real battle, ripping Konoha apart and razing it to the ground, and lastly, killing Naruto to sever all ties. It was what he was owed, it was what he would take, just like they took from him.

Sakura stopped when he did, a couple feet between them. While her shoulders were squared, his were relaxed. Her expression was hard, like granite, his was of amusement. Her weight was balanced, while he mostly rested on his left leg.

"They sent the small fry first?" He snorted.

"As Nanadaime Hokage, I order to stop and surrender." She spoke, voice hard and unshaken. Authoritive in a way he'd never guess she had in her. More warlord than screeching teen.

Sasuke jerked back a little. "Hokage?" He spat, face twisting into a mean smirk. "How does Naruto feel about that?"

Sakura watched him, silent and steady. She looked like she was considering him, before she smiled sadly. It was like she was going slow for him, softening the blow.

"He was lost in the war. His sacrifice has not been forgotten, and, under my rule, never will be. Konoha's biggest hero, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze is out of comission and has been for months now. He's dead, Sasuke." Sakura whispered the last part. Her eyes looked glassy for a moment only, but Sasuke didn't notice.

It felt like she'd just ripped a hole in his stomach, like the floor was gone from under his feet. Her words swam in his head, like he had heard them under water and his face scrunched in fury and sadness.

"What?" He asked, unsure.

"Surrender, Sasuke. You've done enough. You have proved yourself, time and time again. Your brothers sacrifice was in vain if you destroy everything he tried to fix. Don't ruin his memory like that." She continued, reasoning with him as best she could.

"You don't know what your saying!" He yelled, voice getting deeper in his anger. Denial surged up, and he let his hand fall on his sword, grip tight on the hilt.

"I do. As Hokage, I have access over every document. Including the mission over the massacre. I know everything, and if Itachi was still alive I would welcome him back with open arms, Saindaime's decision for you to become some sort of hero be damned." Sakura scowled. She sounded angry for him, sounded like it was a personal slight against her as well, and made Sasuke's grip ease as the world filtered in.

"Hero?" Sasuke sounded lost. He swallowed, hoping it wasn't obvious that the death of his best friend had stumped him. That his brother wanted him to be a hero made lumps stick in his throat.

"You were to defeat him, get revenge for the massacre, and come to Konoha a hero. It was what Itachi and Sandaime-san agreed upon to cover the treason Uchiha clan heads were planning. We had barely recovered from Kurama attacking, and the war, if their plan had come to pass, we would have had an earlier Fourth Shinobi War." Sakura paused, letting Sasuke absorb the information.

"You're lying." Sasuke hissed, and lunged at her.

Sakura wound a fist back and slammed it into the air where he was supposed to be.

He had dodged her blow, hoping to get in her personal space and attack close range. Play on her weak taijutsu, because she couldn't have changed that much. She was still Sakura Haruno, worthless on and off the feild.

Instead of him making even a hint of contact, the sonic wave the punch had created caused him to stumble and his equilibrim to be tarnished for a couple moments, followed by the trees in the background to collapse. She drew her fist back, in position to strike again. He doubted he could take a direct hit from her without her caving his chest cavity in. Or his skull.

"That's new," Sasuke noted as he drew back, scuttling away on unstable feet. He took a moment to still himself, standing a few clicks from where she was waiting for him.

Sasuke didn't know if that was a joke, or not. If she was dumb enough to wait for him, she wouldn't win. If she was toying with him, he wasn't looking forward to going toe to toe with her.

He watched Sakura reach into her pouch, pull ing out some senbon. He could see the gleam of carefully taken care of metal and he cursed, hands coming together to start a ninjutsu.

With skill hours and hours of training with Tenten had created, she threw that at his unbalanced, prone form. She watched him jerk out of the way for the main ones, trying not to let any emotion show.

Instead, she watched the thin needles slice through the air silently towards his new position.

One such senbon sank into his leg, deep.

She watched as he winced and hobbled a bit. His chakra flow sputtered from steady to erratic as he lost the jutsu he was about to perform. He normally would have defeated her by now, but... but he didn't really know what to do, with all the information she'd told him, and how she didn't start the fight, but he did.

It didn't help that her hard sea green eyes were shrewd and critical in a way he never realized she could be. She was exhibiting far better skills than she should have, and Sasuke felt like he'd been left behind. Everyone was gone except her, but he didn't recognize her anymore. Couldn't prove how much he, too, had grown.

"I've crushed nations! You think a punch and some senbon are going to affect me?" His sharingan flared to life, spinning into a mangenkyo after a moment.

In response she punched the ground, causing the earth split and for him to stumble again. It obstructed his view of her and had him scrambling for stable ground.

For some reason he couldn't focus, couldn't stand up right. He felt weighted and his knees wanted to give out.

Something was wrong, he grunted. Maybe it was the information sitting heavy on his heart? Maybe it was the power the weakest link was showcasing? Maybe the senbon were laced?

She sauntered forward and Sasuke sat down heavily, unable to stand a moment longer. Black and red eyes were staring up at her, dying down to their regular obsidian.

The sun framed her, making her seem holy in his view. Maybe she was.

"Surrender." She whispered.

"I can't." He whispered back.

"Then fight."

"I can't."

Silence swallowed them as they stared between each other.

She kneeled, and Sasuke felt graced with the sight of her this low to the ground. On his level. She pulled Kusanagi from the sheathe on his side, slow and careful.

He let her, watched intently as he could while she brandished the blade. She then shuffled close, closer than anyone had been in awhile.

Sasuke numbly felt her arms wrap around him, soft but strong, like his mom's hugs used to be like. And he clung right back, arms fastening around her like she was the only thing keeping him afloat, because, maybe this was what he always needed. Someone to just hold him, to be his rock. A stability that he could depend on, just like team 7 was always supposed to be.

He gasped as he felt cold metal bite through him, from his back, pushing out of his gut and into Sakura's. Shock blocked out everything for a second as the realization that he'd been run through sunk in.

"Then let's die." She murmured into his hair, close by his ear. He held onto her a bit tighter, eyes wide with surprise and childlike fear.

Piercing pain suddenly overwhelmed him, the throbbing from the wound matching his heartbeat. IT felt like it was burning, a slow agonizing pain that was slowly getting better, but worse. He could tell her hands had been sure when she made the decision, the smooth follow through burning in a way that was almost white hot. His teeth clenched, but he only grunted in response.

Slowly, painfully, she twisted the blade, making them both gasp in pain. He knew she was making sure this was a killing blow, knew she had to work up the courage to not only do this to him, but herself as well.

He felt his blood spill from the hole in his stomach, chancing a look down to see the bloody metal firmly coming from his stomach, into hers. He watched until she pulled the blade out, which hurt more then he thought it would.

Sakura's lips were pressed tightly together, and he didn't know how she wasn't making any noise beyond some harsh breathing. She had tears in her eyes, but ignored them in order to cast Kusanagi aside.

He rested his head on her shoulder, arms still holding tight as blood seeped out, puddling under them. It was cooling, and he tried not to feel grossed out. He was getting chilly too, anyway, so it hardly mattered.

"Is this it?" He asked weakly, as he grew more and more cold, vision darkening until his eyes fluttered closed.

"I hope so. I can't do this anymore. Losing Naruto was it for me. I'm so happy to die with you." Sakura mumbled, arms tightening.

The relief in her voice was shocking to him, as she'd been so strong this entire time. He never even thought that she couldn't handle this. He felt her head drop into the crook of his neck and shoulder and felt her relax into him. Felt her slipping just as quickly as he was.

"I think... Me too," he smiled a bit, before he shuddered his last breath.

It took two hours for them to be discovered, lips bluing and blood crusted dry.

Shikamaru took a drag from his cigarette, staring at the corpse's with disappointment.

They sat on their knees, holding onto each other, arms now slack but they'd been so tight that they hadn't moved much. The doll was pressed into Sasuke's shoulder and lax fingers were curled around it from Sakura. It was devastating on how still they were.

He wondered whose idea it was before shaking his head. It didn't matter. All the members of this cell were dead, and gone.

Team 7 was no more.


End file.
